Their drainage areas are about 2,140, 1,200, and 4,000 square
miles, respectively. Canyons and rapids along their courses
offer opportunities for power development.

Water Supply.—The drainage areas of these streams
comprise mountain, foothill, and plateau territory. Annual
precipitation, therefore, is quite variable, being as low as 14
inches in the lower Quesnel Valley and as high as 55 inches
at the headwaters. Storage opportunities in the Bowron
and Willow are apparently very small, but the Quesnel
has considerable lake areas including Quesnel Lake (133
sq. mi.), Horsefly Lake (21 sq. mi.), Isaac Lake (24 sq. mi.),
and Cariboo Lake (21 sq. mi.).

Discharge records have been kept in the Quesnel basin
at the following locations: Quesnel River (South Fork) at
Likely (Drainage area 2,800 sq. mi.) August to December,
1924, April, 1925, to date: annual mean flow about 4,300
c.f.s., minimum 320 c.f.s., maximum 20,400 c.f.s.; Quesnel
River (North Fork) near Hydraulic (Drainage area 1,000
sq. mi.) October, 1926, to date; annual mean flow about
3,300 c.f.s., minimum 160 c.f.s., maximum 20,200 c.f.s.

Power Resources.—Several small water-power develop-
ments have been made in this territory including: Quesnel
Light and Power Company on Baker Creek (195 h.p.)
serving Quesnel, Bullion Placers Limited near Hydraulic
(500 h.p.) for placer gold operations, and Lightning Creek
Gold Gravel and Drainage Company on Lightning Creek
(225 h.p.).

At five canyon sites on Bowron River power possi
bilities are estimated to total 8,690 horse-power at ordinary
minimum flow, or 24,550 horse-power at ordinary six months
flow. On the Willow River, at Upper Canyon, power is
estimated at 4,760 horse-power at ordinary minimum flow,
or 13,480 horse-power at ordinary six months flow. On
the Quesnel and its tributaries, the Niagara, Horsefly,
and Cariboo Rivers, there are seven sites, the potentialities
of which are estimated to total 131,300 horse-power at

ordinary minimum flow, or 172,100 horse-power at ordinary
six months flow.

Chilcotin River

The Chilcotin River, tributary to the Fraser from the
West, rises on the eastern slopes of the Coast Mountains
and drains an area of about 7,000 square miles, the major
part of which lies in the “Dry Belt” of the central plateau.
The greater portion of the flow of the main river comes

from its south branch, Chilko River, which drains Chilko
Lake. :

Water Supply.—Owing to light - precipitation, run-off
from much of the drainage is small, the greater portion being
received from mountain-fed Chilko Lake.

Discharge records of the Chilko River have been kept
at two locations as follows: Chilko River at outlet of Chilko
Lake (Drainage area 762 sq. mi.) July, 1928, to date; mean
annual flow about 1,550 c.f.s., minimum 163 c.f.s., maximum
5,940 c.f.s.; Chilko River near Redstone (Drainage area

3,230 sq. mi.) May, 1927, to date, except for a-number of
winter periods; mean annual flow about 3,320 c.f.s., minimum
400 c.f.s., maximum 14,000 c.f.s.

Excellent storage possibilities are offered by Chilko
Lake, with its area of 70 square miles.

Power Resources.—There are no power developments
in the Chilcotin watershed.

Two sites on Chilcotin River and one on its tributary,
the Chilko, offer power possibilities totalling 7,190 horse-
power at ordinary minimum flow, or 13,725 horse-power at
ordinary six months flow. Like the Nechako, however, the
great significance of the Chilko from a power standpoint
is the proposal to dam and store its upper waters in Chilko
Lake and to divert these waters by tunnel through the
Coastal Divide to a power site on Southgate River, about
30 miles from the head of Bute Inlet. The proposal, known
as the ChilkoSouthgate project, would make. available
693,000 horse-power under a head of about 3,000 feet.
The physical feasibility of the project has been determined
by surveys undertaken by provincial authorities.

Power Markets in Upper Fraser Drainage

Present power markets in the Upper Fraser Drainage
are very small, consisting chiefly of the demands of a number
of small communities which are supplied by oilfuel instal
lations, the largest of which, 300 horse-power, is at Prince
George.

Future markets within the drainage would appear to
depend upon the development of mineral or forest-product
industries. Special significance, however, attaches to the
large Nechako-Coast and Chilko-Coast diversion projects,
which offer immense blocks of low-cost power at or near
tidewater. Large electro-chemical or electro-metallurgical

industries would appear to offer the most probable markets
for power from these large projects.

.

Mackenziz River AND Arctic DRAINAGE

The Mackenzie River drainage. basin, embracing an
area of approximately 660,000 square miles, is one of the
largest on the North American Continent. The river has
its source in Great Slave Lake and flows in a northwesterly
direction for about 1,000 miles before discharging into the
Arctic Ocean. Through the Slave River, Great Slave
Lake receives the run-off of such great tributaries as the
Peace and Athabaska Rivers, and the Mackenzie itself
has large tributaries including the Liard and Peel Rivers
from the west and Great Bear River from the east.

The Mackenzie River is navigable throughout its
length, with an even gradient averaging about six inches to
the mile. As a consequence, it is not adaptable to power
development. There are, however, important Wwater-power
Tesources on its tributaries which are described in some
detail hereunder. Power sites of more than 1,000 horse-
power capacity in the Mackenzie River Drainage are
listed in Table II and are shown on the attached map.

{75 ]